The King's Highway: El Camino Real : God's Highway to Peace and Happiness

by Kenneth R. Guindon

This is the compelling story of a man born as a 'cradle Catholic' who left the Church at an early age to join the Jehovah's Witnesses, the recounting of his 16 years with that sect and its inner workings, his being 'born again' as a Baptist minister for another 12 years, and the conclusion of his incredible spiritual journey along the 'King's Highway' back to the Catholic faith. Ken Guindon uses the metaphor of the 'Royal Road', the El Camino Real that Spaniards have historically called their most important routes, to describe the road that the Heavenly King has led him on, and all seekers of the truth, to the Catholic Church. Travel along this amazing spiritual odyssey as Guindon describes why he left the Church, how the Jehovah's Witnesses so effectively proselytize for new members, how they train and control their members, their false teachings and promises, and how Catholics can counter the methods and doctrines of the Witnesses. He also gives a detailed account of his experiences as a Baptist minister and missionary, why they are so zealous and so anti-Catholic, and how he came back to Catholicism through a closer look at the Bible. An unusual, educational and powerful modern conversion story.

Genres: Religion

Paperback

First published November 30, 1996

Reviews

[booklady]

A quick read, if you omit the footnotes. Kenneth Guindon has had an interesting and certainly not easy life as he has followed his conscience where it has led him. There is a lot to be learned here about the Jehovah’s Witnesses and several Christian denominations.

Guindon gives his testimony in a straightforward non-judgmental manner, pointing out his own mistakes as well the sometimes heavy-handed treatment he received. He also does not leave out the many kindnesses and wonderful people he knew who extended love to him and his family from all faith traditions.

The strength of the book is the genuine witness and avoidance of slam. The downside is that since he went through so many different steps to finally ‘arrive’ where he did, to truly appreciate his numerous ‘conversions’ – or whatever you would call his steps along the journey – you would need to read the many footnotes he gave. For the sake of expediency I did not do this. I only read a few; there were so many. Hence my three stars. In all fairness, it is not so much a reflection of the book as my own appreciation of it.

Here are two things I discovered which tell some about his journey: How to become a Jehovah’s Witness and Baptist Church Hope.

[Josephine (Jo)]

I am a little split in my opinions of this particular book; I can look at it from two different perspectives. I acknowledge the long and at times hard journey that Ken and his wife Monique took (for Ken this was in a complete circle coming back to the Catholic faith into which he was born) in order to find what Ken felt to be the church founded by Jesus. They both gave so much of their live to whichever faith they were following at the time and immersed themselves in missionary work to bring new converts to that faith. They received a lot of kindness from all of the faithful people along the way who supported them with money and accommodation.

However I cannot help but think of all the people that Ken converted to the Jehovah’s Witness cult as he now refers to it and to the different Baptist faiths which he eventually decided were not the true faith. Did these people feel let down by the person who assured them that the JW was the only true faith or that the way to be saved was to become a Baptist? Ken himself tells of how hard life as a JW was and how difficult it is to leave. You have no friends outside the religion and many have even lost their families because of their choice of faith. I would be very sad if those who had taught me my (Catholic) faith as a child were to turn round and say “sorry we were mistaken, this is not the religion for me”. As a cradle Catholic myself a find it hard to understand “faith hoppers” I can never imagine being anything else. Ken says that Catholics do not know their bible, I would strongly disagree, we were introduced to the bible at an early age and I have managed to hold my ground with JW’s on the doorstep. I don’t see how religions founded by men in the 19th century or 15th century can be described as founded by Jesus as the chain from the first bishops of the church simply is not complete.

Despite the fact that I am a Catholic I felt quite sorry for Monique, she followed Ken through his four baptisms and changed her faith with him every time, I felt that when it came to his decision to become a Catholic he put a lot of pressure upon her to convert when she was still coming to terms with the idea.

Ken was fortunate enough to have a great deal of time to study many old books on the different religions and to read the different versions of the bible and compare them in minute detail, I have spent the last 66 years slogging on with the faith into which I was born. No fuss over me no parties to celebrate the fact that I believed. I thank God for my faith and practise it without all the fanfares given to the new convert.

[Bonnie DeZelar]

If you have questions about Jehovah's Witnesses this can give a bit of insight.

[Michael]

I enjoyed learning about how the Jehovah’s Witness church functions for the everyday member. The members who knock on doors certainly work very hard in their church practices

The story is about Ken Guindon’s journey into the Watchtower society and eventually after 28 years returned to the practice of Catholicism. The authenticate desire for conversion was always present in the journey but tradition and seeking to understand original church authority ultimately lead back home to Rome.